


In Search of A Cure

by Shaples



Category: Free!
Genre: Canon Universe, Fluff, Hiccups, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 11:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4562886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaples/pseuds/Shaples
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagisa has a bad case of the hiccups. Rei attempts to cure them with Science.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Search of A Cure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [brumalbreeze](https://archiveofourown.org/users/brumalbreeze/gifts).



> ...Because hiccups are the worst, and you are the best.

Rei prided himself on his composure. He was, in his own estimation, unusually patient and calm in all situations. But when Nagisa hiccupped for the thirty seventh consecutive time since the beginning of their study session, he put his pen down on the table (calmly), and said (calmly), “Nagisa-kun.”

Nagisa looked up from his workbook and hiccupped.

From the slightly confused look on his face, Rei might have been fooled into thinking that Nagisa was completely unaware of his condition. But there was no way. “Aren’t you going to-” hiccup “-do something about that?”

“About w—hat?”

“ _That_.”

Nagisa blinked. Hiccupped.

Rei sighed, “I’m going to go get you a glass of water.”

“Oh,” Nagisa said, seeming _finally_ to understand. “It wo—n’t help. This happens all the time. It can go on for _hours_ and is basically inc—urable, so I just ignore it.”

Rei stared.

Nagisa hiccupped.

Rei stood up, “I’ll be right back.”

There was no such thing as an incurable hiccup, he told himself as he made his way to the kitchen. The very notion defied all logic and reason. He filled a glass of water at the tap. True, he rarely got hiccups himself – after all, he didn’t share Nagisa’s penchant for inhaling his food – but he was quite sure this would work.

He returned to his bedroom, sat back down across from Nagisa, and handed him the water. Nagisa rolled his eyes, but obediently pinched his nose and drank down the whole glass without pausing for air. He set the glass down, and Rei looked at him expectantly for three whole seconds before he hiccupped again.

He would need to do some research. “I haven’t properly studied the theory,” Rei mumbled.

Nagisa giggled, “It’s fine Rei-ch—an, they’ll go away eventually.”

“Eventually” was unquantifiable, and at the moment, seemed entirely too far off. Rei pulled out his phone and searched _cures for hiccups_. The first results were all about eating – eating plain table sugar, even! – and Rei dismissed them out of hand; it was eating that had gotten Nagisa into this predicament in the first place, after all. Then there were the ridiculous cliched ones – hold your breath, have someone frighten you. Please. Nagisa was nigh unscareable, and besides, both seemed terribly unscientific. He paused in his scrolling. “It says here that you should try pulling on your tongue.”

“ _Wh—at?!_ ” Nagisa held his arms up in an X “No way, that’s gross.”

Rei sighed, trying another link. “This one says you could try sticking your tongue out,” he offered.

Nagisa stuck his tongue out and gave Rei a cheeky wink. Then hiccupped.

“Not like that,” Rei said, “you have to do it like _this_.” He opened his mouth wide, sticking his tongue all the way out until he could feel the stretch at the back of his throat. When Nagisa collapsed forward, laughing and pounding his fist on the table, Rei frowned, “What? Why are you laughing? It’s a perfectly reasonable exercise that helps relax the vocal cords. I’ve heard that singers-”

But Nagisa held up his arms in an X again, “Try ag—ain.”

Rei picked up his phone and started scrolling. Two dozen different ways of drinking a glass of water, each more ridiculous – and messy sounding – than the next. He dismissed them all; they’d tried water already, and it hadn’t worked. One of the suggestions half way down the list made his ears burn, and he quickly scrolled past it. A little farther down he found another scientific-sounding solution and brightened, “This one says that gentle pressure can help stimulate the vagus nerve and relax the diaphragm.”

Nagisa stared blankly at him. Hiccupped.

“…Right,” Rei said, glancing at the instructions again before putting his phone down and scooting around the table so he was sitting next to Nagisa. “Face me,” he said.

Nagisa looked skeptical, “You’re not going to try to pu—ll on my tongue, are you?”

“A-absolutely not! That would be-”

“Gross,” Nagisa said.

Yes, gross. Of course that was what he was going to say.

“I’m just going to… here.” He put his hands to either side of Nagisa’s neck, pressing his thumbs to the soft spots just behind his earlobes.

“W-what… what are you doing?” Nagisa stammered, turning a very lovely shade of pink.

“I’m stimulating your vagus nerve,” Rei said stiffly, “to relax your diaphragm.” He’d failed to consider the change in physical proximity that this experiment would cause. Or the eye contact.

“How long do you h—ave to-”

“Nineteen seconds. Eighteen.”

Seventeen seconds later, Rei promptly withdrew his hands and scooted back a few inches. “Did that…?”

Nagisa hiccupped.

Rei sighed. “There’s really nothing that can cure them?”

“Well,” Nagisa said cautiously, “My sisters always th—ought it was really annoying, so whenever it happened when I was little, they would all pile on me and tickle me until I s—stopped.”

“Tickling?” Rei said. It hadn’t been on any of the lists, but…

“I mean, obviously I’m not saying you shou—ld do that or anything, just that short of being tortured by my sis—ters it’s basically hopeless.”

…but it did bear some similarities to many of the other so-called remedies. Distraction. Disruption. Altered breathing. Muscle contractions.

Rei lunged. For science.

Nagisa shrieked as Rei tackled him to the ground, unable to even gasp out a protest before Rei’s fingers found the sweet spot on his sides and he started laughing uncontrollably, squirming and writhing beneath him. Rei was nothing if not thorough, tickling Nagisa’s sides, his stomach, his armpits, his neck, the backs of his knees, moving from one spot to another so they became more ticklish each time, and Nagisa’s giggling turned silent and breathless, until even his squirming stopped because he was laughing so hard. Rei kept going until Nagisa started flailing weakly at his arms, gasping out “S-stahaha- stop!”

Rei drew back a little, holding himself up over Nagisa with his hands planted on the floor to either side of his head. It struck him – not for the first time, but harder than usual – just how beautiful Nagisa was. He was flushed a bright rosy pink, his blond curls disheveled, sweet little giggles still spilling out of his lips, and he was so small and lean and delicate-seeming beneath him. He knew it was an illusion – that Nagisa was by no means weak, that he could probably throw him off and pin him down and give as good as he got.

But he didn’t. He just looked up at Rei, shy and a little awe-struck, and said, “Rei-chan?” And it was like a stab through the heart. Nagisa was perfect, and precious, and-

Hiccupped.

And Rei realized it wasn’t even annoying anymore, but suddenly remembered the words he’d skimmed over so quickly, the remedy that was too embarrassing even to leave visible on his phone screen.

_A long, passionate kiss has been known to work._

He leaned down and pressed his lips to Nagisa’s.

If he’d stopped to think for even a moment, he wouldn’t have – not in a million years, not even for _science_ – but he didn’t, and their mouths met, and Nagisa made a surprised little sound that turned into a soft moan as he started kissing Rei back.

Rei hadn’t thought any of this through, not really, not beyond admiring Nagisa’s lips more than he knew was appropriate for a platonic friendship. But when Nagisa’s body arched up beneath him, when his legs wrapped around his waist and his hands slid into his hair, it didn’t matter. It felt right, and good, and far overdue, and there was no room to worry that Nagisa didn’t want it, too. He curled his arms in underneath Nagisa’s head, supporting his neck and holding himself up on his forearms so he could lean in closer, tip his head to one side so their mouths fit together better. When Nagisa’s teeth grazed his bottom lip, Rei gasped, lips parting, and when Nagisa’s tongue teased lightly against Rei’s, he was not entirely surprised to find that Nagisa’s mouth still tasted like the two and a half pieces of strawberry shortcake that had gotten them into this mess in the first place.

Rei shifted his weight, leaning down to get a better angle, and slipped one of his arms out from under Nagisa’s head to reach back and adjust the grip of Nagisa’s leg on his waist. As soon as his fingertips brushed along Nagisa’s thigh, though, Nagisa drew back abruptly, laughing.

“What?” Rei said, freezing, “What did I do?”

“S-still t-ticklish,” Nagisa said through a breathless giggle.

Experimentally, Rei brushed his fingertips lightly over the back of Nagisa’s knee, and Nagisa _writhed_ beneath him, “Noooo!”

Rei rested his hand gently on Nagisa’s hip, no teasing, and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his strawberry lips. When Rei drew back, Nagisa was still breathing hard, but his expression had softened. He reached up and brushed Rei’s bangs gently out of his face, and Rei’s eyes went half lidded, but he refused to close them, because Nagisa was like an angel with swollen lips on the floor beneath him, features warm with surprise and affection as he said, “What took you so long?”

And Rei said, quite honestly, “I don’t know.” Then he tilted his head and smiled, “But your hiccups are gone.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream with me about Reigisa. theshannonlewis on twitter and tumblr.


End file.
